The Impact of Your Driving Record on Your Insurance Premium

While all driving violations are potentially dangerous to both you and other drivers, there are some violations that are more dangerous than others. Your insurance company, when determining your premium, will look at your various driving offenses to determine your rates. The severity of the offenses can have a bearing on the rates you’re charged.

Minor Offenses

Minor offenses are those that offer the least amount of accident risk. Minor offenses might include parking tickets.

Major Offenses

Major driving offenses can result in higher insurance premiums. These can include violations such as DUI or DWI, reckless driving, or tickets that indicate you were at-fault in a car accident.

Number of Offenses

In addition to the degree of the ticketed offense affecting your premium, the number of offenses you are charged with can affect your premium. A driver with one minor offense might not be charged as high a rate as a repeat offender.

Double Jeopardy

Higher premiums aren’t the only thing at stake when you get a ticket—you could also lose certain discounts. For example, you can lose a safe driver discount once you get a ticket, so your rates might rise both because you lost the discount and because the insurer sees you as higher risk.

And driving offenses don’t just result in higher premiums; they can also bring about a total loss of insurance coverage. A carrier may choose to drop your policy after too many driving violations or just a small number of serious offenses.

While it’s impossible to translate specific driving violations directly to an additional premium charge since the insurance companies keep their rating systems proprietary, you can be confident in the knowledge that the more dangerous the situation involved in your driving offense, the greater impact it may have on your insurance premium. To find out how your rates may be affected by violations, contact Cliff Cottam Insurance Services at (807)-6871 today!